house speaker john boehner seems optimistic about these negotiations. >> we can all imagine a scenario where we go off the fiscal cliff. if, if despite the election, if despite the dangers of going over the fiscal cliff and what that means for our economy that there's too much stubbornness in congress that we can't even agree on giving middle class family as tax cut, then, middle class families will all end up having a big tax hike. >> there are no barriers here to sitting down and beginning to work through this process. i don't think anyone on either side of the aisle underestimates the difficulty that faces us. but i do think that the spirit of cooperation that you have seen over the last week from myself and my team, from democrats across the aisle, from the president, have created an atmosphere where i think that, i'm, remain optimistic. i was born with a glass half-full. if i hadn't been i sure wouldn't be here. jon: so let's get to it. how close are we to the edge of that fiscal cliff? marjorie clifton, a former consultant to the obama campaign and principle with clifton consulti